Origami | The Art of Paper Folding

A crane I made with 2cm x 2cm paper

Mein erstes nass gefaltetes Origami, aus 17x17 cm 200g/m² Aquarellpapier. Geht erstaunlich gut und ist nach dem trocknen richtig stabil. Faltanleitung, leider nur als Video, findet man hier: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=w5OfNVL79iw

An attempt at making a curler. Could be better, but I guess it's alright. Tutorial: https://youtu.be/3e6-F90MW0g?si=h2LppEG-OLmJAsbt

Finished another 30 piece! Really happy with how this one turned out. Although it takes quite a bit of time. Tutorial: https://youtu.be/9jFfuk5uZgA?si=kfbyzuxj3fGVbBnY

Origami-Tutorial: Kranich - 2 min

Origami-Tutorial: Samuraihelm - 2 min

Origami-Tutorial: Papierflieger - 1 min

Origami-Tutorial: Schachtel - 4 min

Origami-Tutorial: Propeller - 1 min

I've been working on my first more challenging fold, but that's taking quite long. So I wanted to post something fun and simple that I whipped together while bored at work.

Sorry I don't have any instructions for this tiny project. (But it doesn't really glide anyways lol). I wanted to create the instructions myself using some kind of origami CAD software. Unfortunately, I haven't found a software that lets me adjust the paper size so that I can model the Starburst wrapper dimensions. If anyone knows of a software with this feature, I'm happy to hear about it.

US Penny for scale.

A friend of mine told me that her favourite animals are gorillas, so I had to fold one for her :D

I made two very similar origami gorillas: I folded the right one first, according to the PDF on the WWF website (except for the front legs, where the instructions and the picture on the first page are not the same): https://www.worldwildlife.org/publications/gorilla-origami-instructions

But then I looked up the instructions on YouTube (because I like having both instructions and a video while folding something) and found a nearly identical one with a bit more shaping, so I folded another gorilla which I then gave my friend because I liked it more. Here's the video: https://youtu.be/hcJ4Clhg6O4?si=0zNyFToKasDOjyKx

The first steps in the video are a bit different and, in my eyes, slightly more logical than in the PDF, but apart from that, they're very similar. The shaping at the end gives it a completely different look and more dimension though (especially the area around the nose and the back), so regardless of whether you decide to follow the diagrams or the video, please have a look at the video for the shaping.

OH WOW, look at that, we're already more than one hundred people here in this little community! I'm currently a bit busy with my master's thesis, but I try to log in at least once a day, and I've seen more and more people contributing and sharing their origami projects, which is SO nice! Thank you for your interest and for your posts so far! I hope this community keeps on being welcoming in the future as well!

On another note, I'd like to use this opportunity to have a chat with you guys. Is there anything in particular you would love to see here? Anything you like or don't like? This is my very first time ever being a moderator, so feedback is greatly appreciated :)

Hi, this is my first post! I recently bought Ekaterina's book, Kusudama Origami and tried out the first model.

Quick one I started in a car ride, and then quickly learned that I needed scissors to finish 🥲. So don't forget your scissors for this one!

Uber Origami by Duy Nguyen

Enjoyed @cosmoscoffee's bat so decided to do a "fold-along". Hope this type of post is allowed. Let me know if it isn't.

Original post from this community

This is a pretty quick fold, but fitting for today's occasion :)

First I used the following PDF diagrams: https://static.onecms.io/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/sites/37/2019/06/06191136/BHGBatTemplate.pdf but then got stuck at step 6 since there isn't any line indicating where exactly you have to fold...

So I found a second PDF (https://www.ausbats.org.au/uploads/4/4/9/0/44908845/bat_origami.pdf) which has clearer diagrams and even shows an additional step that is missing in the first PDF, making the transition between step 6 and 7 easier. However, it comes with no text at all, so unless you need written instructions to go along the diagrams, I advise you to use the second PDF. It's nice to be able to look at both, though.

Happy Halloween!

Link to the instruction video for the hen: https://www.origamispirit.com/2014/02/origami-hen-box/ And for the matching chickens: https://www.origamispirit.com/2014/04/chicken/

I know it's not Easter yet, but I found this cute origami hen and just had to fold it! And with the accompanying chickens, you get two instructions in one post!

The two different colours for the beak and the body are a nice little touch and I even bought some bicolour paper for this (but it still looks good with regular origami paper, then you simply decide if either the beak or the body is white). Another cool thing about this hen is that its back can be pushed open and filled with little things, so it's a cute way to gift little chocolate eggs or other packaged sweets!

The tiny chickens are like a smaller version of the hen, literally but also instruction-wise: They have an open back as well and can be filled, even if in this case it's just one single gumdrop. I wouldn't really bother using bicoloured paper for the chickens, though, as everything turns out the same colour except the inside of the body (which usually isn't visible anyways). For the step in the beginning where you have to guess where half of the edge is, I used the technique shown for the hen (folding the edge in half, but only marking the edge with a pinch). I also prefer sloping the fold for the bottom a bit more towards the back for a more upright position, but I like the possibility of varying the apperance.

The blog recommends using at least 15x15 cm paper for the hen (resulting in a 7 cm high hen) and using a quarter of the paper (so 7.5x7.5 cm) for the chickens for balanced chicken-hen proportions... For the chickens, I would not recommend using even smaller paper since it was a bit of a challenge to do the very last folds in particular without the risk of ripping the paper, but this of course depends on the thickness of the paper.

Happy Very Early Easter!

I haven't had a lot of time recently to fold something myself, but I stumbled upon a very interesting database for origami models: https://origami-database.com/

Here you can find more than 350 models and their instructions - either as a Youtube link, diagrams or as a crease pattern. You can even apply filters to find models depending on different keywords, difficulty, average folding time and more. The last model was added on September 7, so the database seems to be updated semi-regularly.

I hope this is a somewhat valuable resource to you guys! Happy folding!

A dog I folded a long time ago, not sure where I got the instructions from, but I found a video with them. I used A4 printer paper, but I would recommend something thinner and larger since it teared at a few places.

Instructions from Peterpaul Forcher as a PDF file: https://www.origamiseiten.de/forcher/scottish.pdf

('Auf der Rückseite ebenso' is German for 'on the back side as well' and the instruction at step 26 tells you to undo the steps 25 and 24 before proceeding with step 27.)

The head was a bit tricky when I folded it for the first time, and even though this is my third time folding this, I somehow can't get this dog's back quite right... you can see the square sticking out and the tail is not quite aligned as well, but maybe you guys can do better than me :)

I would also suggest using at least 20x20 cm paper - I simply used regular white A4 printer paper where I cut off a square with the size of 21x21 cm and the resulting dog is roughly 8 cm long and 7 cm high. If you don't want to fold a Westie but a Scottish Terrier, just use all-black paper :)

Origami Editor 3D is an advanced paper folding simulator. It uses a what-you-see-is-what-you-get interface and operates with a geometric abstraction of the Yoshizawa-Randlett system. Anything from a simple airplane to John Montroll's omega star can be folded in this editor.

Origami files created with the program preserve the entire folding process, and they can be exported as folding diagrams in PDF, animated GIF files, or even as standalone Java programs displaying the origami in a 3D viewer when opened.

The main purpose of this program is designing origami, but if you only want to learn how to make some origami figures, there is a set of built-in example files that can help you. Currently, there are 34 example figures available.

Although abandoned in "Pre-Alpha" state in 2017 and not fully stable, this Open Source Java-application with a size of only 300 kB works surprisingly well.

User Guide: https://origamieditor3d.sourceforge.net/userguide/en/index.html

Latest version 1.3.5 can be downloaded from the Origami Editor 3D - SourceForge page:

• Download Origami Editor 3D - JAR
• Download Origami Editor 3D - source code and example ORI files
• VirusTotal report for JAR

After Starting the editor you can load Origami-files like this Crane example:

Sometimes timeout error occur while exporting. Simply click "wait"-button until export is fully done.

I hope you can find some joy in virtual paper folding and exporting instructions for your own creations with this editor.

Also if you know of similar software, please share your experience.

I recently bought cute stickers for some friends and wanted to put them in a nice envelope for gifting. Instructions for this type of envelope/tato can be found here: https://doitandhow.com/2019/07/19/pinwheel-origami-envelope-fold (the German text in the top right simply says 'Fold an origami envelope'.)

Unfortunately, the instructions are a slightly blurry image instead of a clear diagram, but on other websites, I could only find instructions where, after having folded the very first cross, you're left to roughly guess two thirds of the diagonal length (or measure the point with a ruler) instead of being guided by already existing folds in your paper... Also, the last step (folding the last flap up and slipping it under the right flap) is not shown in the image, so if someone finds better instructions where you don't have to guesstimate while folding, I'm more than happy to update this post!

I used 13x13 cm paper and the resulting envelopes are almost 7x7 cm.

This elephant is one of my favourite Origami, one of the first that I learned, and I still know how to do it because it is so simple. Still, the result is very distinctive and easy to recognize as an elephant.

Instructions can be found in the german book "Origami Kompaktkurs" by Thomas Landa.

The crane is probably the most famous origami motive, so there are millions of websites with instructions, but I used the following link: https://origami.me/crane/

The size of the paper used is 13x13 cm.